A volcano erupted in Iceland on Monday evening, just a few kilometers from Grindavik, the town that was evacuated in early November due to intense seismic activity. Images broadcast live by local media show magma flows erupting along a fissure more than two kilometers long. Follow us for the latest information.
She had been feared for almost two months. This Monday evening, a volcanic eruption began in Iceland, south of Reykjavik, in the area where seismic activity was most intense in early November. “An exuberant eruption began a few kilometers northeast of Grindavík,” the Icelandic Meteorological Institute (IMO) said in a statement.
“The eruption began at 22:17 (GMT) after an earthquake at around 21:00,” the IMO then clarified, noting that the estimated length of the rift is three times larger than the last one, at around 2.8 km outbreak in the region.
Jets of glowing lava
As these images broadcast live on YouTube by Icelandic media show, streams of magma are escaping from the ground on the Reykjanes Peninsula, which until 2021 had been spared from eruptions for eight centuries.
This other camera, installed near the volcano, also allows us to see the glowing lava emerging from the fissure.
On November 11, the 4,000 residents of Grindavik, about forty kilometers from the capital, were evacuated as a precaution after hundreds of earthquakes were caused by the movement of magma beneath the earth's crust. Since then, they have only been allowed to visit their homes at certain times a day.
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It is clear that this is a significant outbreak
It is clear that this is a significant outbreak
Katrín Jakobsdóttir, Prime Minister of Iceland
“Our thoughts are (…) with the local population, we hope for the best, but it is clear that this is a significant outbreak,” reacted the head of the Icelandic government, Katrín Jakobsdóttir, in a press release on Facebook . In mid-November, the Prime Minister said that “no country is better prepared for natural disasters than Iceland.”
The police have been heavily mobilized since the end of October, when swelling of the ground was observed near the turquoise pools of the “Blue Lagoon”, and for their part said that the population was not at risk in the current state of the outbreak.
There are no disruptions to air traffic at this time
“At the moment there are no disruptions to arrivals or departures from Keflavik Airport,” said Icelandic airport operator ISAVIA, as traffic was relatively light at this late hour. What will happen next? It's hard to say at the moment, although volcanologists have recently pointed out that the situation is unlikely to be anywhere near what it was in 2010.
This year, the massive eruption of Eyjafjallajökull crippled the aviation sector, with nearly 100,000 flights canceled and more than 10 million travelers stranded.
Iceland, a land of fire and ice, has 32 volcanic systems considered active, more than anywhere else in Europe. The Reykjanes Peninsula has been the site of three eruptions in recent years – in March 2021, August 2022 and July 2023 – which could be the sign of a new period of activity. A cycle that experts say is likely to last decades.
Follow the latest information on the outbreak in our live stream below.
07:06
MAGMA GEYSERE
Check out the first images of the eruption in Iceland
Volcanic eruption in Iceland: the first imagesSource: TF1 Info
07:05
Hello and welcome to this livestream. We will follow together the latest information about the volcanic eruption in Iceland.
Alexandre DECROIX